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his wealth was the cause of his healing, and also that help did not come from the
prophet, as if such power were inherent in the prophet. The latter, indeed, would
seem of chief importance in the teaching required by a heathen.
We can readily perceive how alike the manner and the matter of Elisha's direction
would stir the indignation of Naaman. As Syria's captain he would naturally expect a
different reception from the Israelitish prophet, and as a heathen, that Elisha would
have used some magical means, such as to "move his hand up and down over the
place,"^203 calling the while upon the name of Jehovah^204 his God, and so heal him of
his leprosy. And Naaman spoke both as a heathen and as a Syrian when he
contemptuously compared the limpid waters of "Abana and Pharpar,"^205 a which
transformed the wilderness around Damascus into a very paradise of beauty and
riches, with the turbid flood of Jordan, if, indeed, healing were to be obtained by
such means.
"So he turned, and went away in a rage." The reasoning by which Naaman had so
nearly deprived himself of a benefit which would be to him as life from the dead, is
substantially the same as that which leads so many to turn from the one remedy to
which God directs them. The simple command of the Gospel to "Wash, and be
clean," like the words of the prophet which had prefigured it, is still to the Jews a
stumbling-block, and to the Greeks foolishness. The difficulty felt by Naaman is the
same as that of so many in our days: the need of humiliation, and of faith in a remedy
which seems so inadequate to the end. If washing be required, let it be in the Abana
and Pharpar of our own waters, not in the turbid stream of Israel! But it is ever this
humiliation of heart and simple faith in God's provision which are required for our
healing.
"Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the
kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 18:3). And so Naaman had to learn it. It was well that
the relation between himself and his servants was so simple and affectionate ("my
father"), that they could address him in terms of respectful expostulation, and so turn
him from his rash purpose. For, often those around can see the true bearing of things
far better than we. At the same time, we may also learn from the relation between
Naaman and his servants how the faithful performance of ordinary duties may
prepare the way for the reception of a higher blessing.^206
So it came to pass that instead of returning "in a rage" to Damascus, a leper, Naaman
went down to Jordan. And as, obedient to "the saying of the man of God," he "dipped
himself seven times in Jordan," "his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little
child, and he was clean." We can scarcely be mistaken in regarding the number seven
as symbolic of the covenant (comp. also 1 Kings 18:43), and as also implying a trial
of faith, since presumably the healing did not come till after the seventh washing.
(^)